Malibu winery sues electricity company after fire

A Malibu winery and multiple homeowners in the area are suing utility company Southern California Edison, claiming it was responsible for damage caused by the devastating Woolsey Fire, which swept through the area in November last year.

Cielo Farms winery, along with multiple homeowners, filed a suit at the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (29 January), blaming Southern California Edison (SCE) for the losses caused by the Woolsey Fire.

The fire, which started on 8 November last year, burned nearly 100,000 acres, destroyed over 1,600 structures and killed three people. Almost 300,000 people were evacuated.

As reported by Wine Spectator at the time, among the wine companies affected by the fires was wine tour organiser Malibu Discovery, whose Malibu Grapes tasting room burned down in the blaze.

According to Los Angeles Daily News, in its claim, winery and wedding venue Cielo Farms states that the Woolsey Fire destroyed 3,000 of its vines, multiple structures and 1,400 trees, causing “a multimillion-dollar business loss.”

Displaying photos of the winery and other properties before and after the incident, the lawsuit continued: “The plaintiff’s venue was voted the No. 1 wedding venue in Los Angeles County for the three years preceding the fire.”

“Plaintiffs allege SCE’s electrical equipment … caused the Woolsey fire, demonstrating a reckless pattern of destroying entire communities through its unsafe operation of its overhead electrical equipment.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for SCE said: “At this time, SCE is not commenting on any lawsuits associated with the Woolsey Fire, as an ongoing investigation is underway by Cal Fire and Ventura County Fire. SCE is fully cooperating in their investigation.”

Back in December last year, the utility company published a letter it sent to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) detailing the operation of its electric system 8 November in the vicinity of where the Woolsey Fire reportedly began. It also mentioned its ongoing efforts to minimise the risk of wildfires and called on the state to do more to develop more universal policies.

This follows news that, after an investigation, a private electrical system next to a residential home has been blamed for the deadly Tubbs Fire, which killed 23 people during a spate of deadly wildfires in California’s wine country in 2017.

The 80-page report published by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire) has revealed that, rather than Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which has been blamed for 17 of the wildfires in October 2017, a private electrical system was at fault in the case of the Tubbs Fire.

The Tubbs Fire in Sonoma began on the evening of 8 October 2017 and burned a total of 36,807 acres, destroyed 5,636 structures and killing 22 civilians and one firefighter.